AYE Y'ALL
WHADDUP WHADDUP!!!!
So, my
week was literally a roller coaster - up and down, up and down! As a
missionary, I've come to expect that every week. This week, however, it was
like my experiences were juiced up with steroids and they hit me so much
harder!
Last week I told you about the
Gonzalez family: a family of five who we were planning to baptize on
March 8th. I hope my previous
email conveyed how much I loved that family! On Tuesday night, we were joined
at the church by multiple members and were able to teach the family a great
lesson. They paid their tithing (without us even asking them), Jared (14) went
to mutual and loved it, and Madeline (the mom) bore her testimony to the bishop
while Antonio (the dad) helped teach his younger son, Andre (8), about the
importance of a living prophet. It was like the most golden family, in the most
golden lesson, I've ever seen.
On
Wednesday afternoon Elder Covington and I were listening on audio to a video
called Missionary Work and the Atonement.
I think I've told you about it before.
It's an amazing video that you should watch! Anyway, in the video there's a part
where Jeffrey R. Holland talks about the Atonement and he says, "You
must be prepared at least once on your mission to shed one of the tears He (the
Lord) shed". I remember thinking to myself, "Man! When is that going
happen? My mission has been pretty great so far!" Well, that afternoon we
went over for another appointment at the Gonzalez home, this time only with
Antonio. As soon as we got inside the door he said, "Fellas, I have some
bad news. I'm not going to be baptized anymore and neither is my family."
He went on to explain that on Tuesday night after our GREAT lesson, he decided
to get on-line and research about Mormons and after eight hours of reading anti-Mormon
material, his mind was filled with false ideas about the church and he
was totally turned around. The family completely dropped us and wouldn't
even keep a Book of Mormon. I can't even explain how I felt! My heart sank to
my feet and I was literally speechless for the rest of the day. It was so hard for me to watch this family,
who I loved so much, get completely turned around because Satan got a hold of
them! However, as the week went on I was able to learn a lot from this
experience. At first I was really hard on myself and I thought about everything
Elder Covington and I could've done better. But, I realized we really did all
we could. I learned exactly what Elder Holland talks about in that video when he
refers to the difficulty of missionary work. Sometimes we think that it's all
fun and games and since we're servants of the Lord everything will go right.
Well as servants, we have to be prepared to go through A LITTLE of everything
HE went through - the good AND the bad. Otherwise, we couldn't call ourselves
representatives, could we? If I'm supposed to bring salvation to people, and as
Holland says, "salvation is no whimsical experience", then it's no
wonder my job is not easy! I have to be able to endure experiences like this so
that when the blessings of missionary work roll around, they seem that much
more sweet!
This picture is a sign that sits at the exit of the parking lot of a nearby
Christian church. I took that on Wednesday afternoon before we went over to
Antonio's house. I have a whole new outlook on that picture now! Sometimes we
think that when we enter the mission field we're entering the most glorious and
happiest experience of our life, which we are, but we forget all that has to
come with it. I've come to learn that the sign might as well say, "Now
entering the battle field" because that's really what it is! We're
constantly fighting on the Lord's side against Satan, and I'm glad to be on the
side that I'm on!
I'll make sure to bring a little more
happiness next week. Ha! I’ll also tell you about our experience listening to Elder
Quinten L. Cook!
MAKE SURE EVERYONE CONGRATULATES MY BOY,
ZACH "DIRTY Z" MORRIS ON HIS MISSION CALL.
Love you all!!
Elder Roderick
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